1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to a device and methods for fabricating a two-dimensional image of a three-dimensional object. More particularly, the present invention pertains to a device and methods for obtaining two-dimensional images of three-dimensional objects, such as labels on prescription bottles and containers, as well as nutritional and drug labels on over-the-counter medicines and supplements.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Medical providers and home health agencies that monitor at-home patients are required to file a 100% accurate drug reconciliation and certification with Medicare upon admission of every new patient, and then a re-certification every 60 days in order for the patient to continue to receive Medicare reimbursements for home healthcare.
Currently, this is accomplished by sending the home care nurse to the patient's location and the nurse must gather all of the patient's pill bottles, boxes, and tubes, as well as all over-the-counter medications and vitamin bottles or boxes. It is also beneficial to collect any other supplements or nutritional additives that the patient may also be taking. For each container, the nurse must record the prescription number, the number of pills, the number of refills remaining, dosage instructions, the prescribing doctor's name and phone number, the pharmacy name and phone number, and so on. Currently, this is accomplished in the field by either writing all of this information down on paper, or typing it into a computer. In the vast majority of instances, the nurse records this information by hand writing it down because a computer is either not available or the nurse is more familiar and comfortable with writing the information by hand. Regardless of whether the information is written by hand or typed into a laptop computer, there is room for error and it is a time-consuming activity. This intake procedure can easily take from 30 to 60 minutes, depending upon the number of containers.
The information is then collected by the nurse and typed into the home health agency's computer system, which takes additional time and also allows a second opportunity for human error to occur. For example, errors can occur when the nurse has clearly written down the information correctly but the data is then typed incorrectly into the computer system.
It is apparent that this manual intake procedure is an inefficient use of the nurse's time, and that the nurse could reduce the length of the visit and also increase the amount of time spent conversing with the patient about the patient's health if a more efficient method of recording the prescription information was available.
But even more so, this manual data intake method often leads to mistakes. For instance, English is a second language to many nurses, and they may have different ways of writing various letters that render their handwriting illegible or difficult to read. Compounding this problem is the fact that many drug names are similar to each other. In addition, nurses may be rushed to complete the job if they are running behind, or may even fail to record some prescriptions that they assess as being unimportant because they are short on time. They may also fail to record all of the information for each prescription. Furthermore, the nurses working in the field routinely encounter a variety of distractions which lead to errors, including rambunctious children, loud pets, loud televisions, distracting adults, etc.
As mentioned above, there is a second opportunity for error to occur when the nurse's notes are entered as data into the computer system. Errors can result from not being able to understand the handwriting, or simply from mistyping information that was correctly and legibly written down. In cases where the handwriting is too difficult to understand or information is simply missing, it is necessary to track this information down by calling the nurse, the doctor's office, or the pharmacy to confirm the handwritten information or to obtain the omitted information. Once again, this requires time and it can often require repeated phone calls before the information is confirmed or obtained.
Therefore, it is obvious that an improved system is needed which can save the home health agency both time and money, ensure patient safety by recording the correct drugs, and free up some of the nurse's time so that he or she can spend more time conversing with the patient about his or her health concerns rather than performing data entry.
The present invention, as is detailed hereinbelow, seeks to fill this need by providing a device and method for automatically fabricating a two-dimensional image of a three-dimensional object, such as a pill bottle.